


Chapstick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry

by pirateygoodness



Category: College AU - Fandom, Lost Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-25 02:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pirateygoodness/pseuds/pirateygoodness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Lauren's really not sure that taking this tutoring job was a good idea</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapstick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the hiatus ficathon at [](http://bo-lauren.livejournal.com/profile)[**bo_lauren**](http://bo-lauren.livejournal.com/). The prompt was, "AU: Bo is thisclose to failing out of O-Chem, because science is exhausting. Lauren agrees to tutor her." Title quoted from the Relient K song with the same name.

Lauren's really not sure that taking this tutoring job was a good idea. She's always loved explaining things, and helping people, and chemistry is one of her best subjects. But this new girl she's supposed to help - dressed head to toe in black, a dozen bracelets jingling on each wrist, snapping her gum as she explains that organic chemistry is _exhausting_ \- already seems like she's going to be a lot of work.

Lauren takes a deep breath, tries again to focus. "Okay," she says. "What about this one?"

Concentrating on her pen, she draws the familiar shape of benzene, six sides and then a ring in the middle. She connects it to another, six sides, ring in the middle, adds hydroxy-groups on either end. "There. How do you name this?"

The girl - Bo - snickers, head dipping forward.

"What?" Lauren asks, trying and failing to keep her tone from getting sharp.

"Sorry," she says. "Sorry. I just - it looks sort of dirty, don't you think?"

She glances again at the page, tilting her head. The chemical structure is two hexagons with rings inside, and very obviously 4,4-biphenol. Looking at it again, she can see how, if someone had the wrong sort of mindset, they might think of breasts. She feels herself start to blush. "It looks like chemistry," Lauren says, brusquely. From the corner of her eye, she sees Bo's mouth curl into a smirk. She tries to ignore it. "Let's go through how we'd name this."

They go through 4,4-biphenol, and then a dozen other structures - which Lauren carefully chooses to look like nothing but plain, sexless organic compounds. Bo is surprisingly sharp, despite the eyeliner and the attitude. She picks up on naming rules on the first or second try, and they make a surprising amount of progress, considering the fact that Bo is barely passing the course.

She also smells amazing, and she's beautiful, every part of her, especially those bracelets and the way they draw Lauren's eye to her wrists. She has really nice hands, the nicest Lauren's seen in a while.

She also likes to sit really close, and every chance she has, she seems to move even nearer. By the end of the tutoring session, Bo's got her chair pulled up right next to Lauren's. She's so close that Lauren can feel Bo pressed to her shoulder and thigh, making her think about exactly the wrong kind of organic chemistry.

"So, wait," Bo says, pointing with her pen to the structure that Lauren's just drawn. Her nail polish is shiny black, and Lauren can't stop staring at it. "When this reacts with bromine, it turns into an ion. Because -"

She trails off, clearly looking for guidance. "Because this oxygen donates an electron," Lauren says, drawing an arrow on the page between them.

Bo looks up at Lauren's, brow furrowing. Her mouth is lip-gloss pink, lower lip even pinker from being bitten as she concentrates. Not that Lauren's noticed, or anything. "That means it's a nucleophile, right?"

Lauren exhales. It's a correct answer, and she wants to say something encouraging. But Bo feels too close, occupying every one of Lauren's senses, and she can barely focus enough to remember what she's supposed to be teaching. "Exactly," she murmurs.

"Wow," Bo says, leaning in, until Lauren can feel her words against the skin of her jaw. "You're like, really good at explaining things."

Lauren feels herself blush again, cheeks burning bright pink. "Thank you," she says.

Then Bo leans even closer, and before Lauren can think about what might be happening, there are lips against hers. Bo kisses way better than she does homework, and Lauren finds herself dropping her pen, whimpering at the feeling of being kissed and the nearness of her. Bo pulls away slowly, and Lauren feels like she can hardly breathe. "You're welcome," Bo whispers, and the roughness of her voice gives Lauren butterflies. "Maybe you could go over some more stuff with me this Friday. Say, at the Dal?"

"That's a bar," Lauren says. She's been there on Friday nights before, and she's pretty sure it's not a learning-friendly environment.

"Is that a problem?" Bo asks, mouth curling into a smile.

"No," Lauren says, grinning back.

"Good," she says. "I'll pick you up at nine." 


End file.
